The lacquer body is built on a red-orange ground and has a thin layer of lacquer near the top that outlines the camellia blossoms and leaves in red, an allusion to the color of this flower that blooms around the Chinese New Year. As is typical of the thirteenth century, there is little overlapping of leaves and petals, and much of the ground is exposed. The lack of incisions to indicate the veins of the petals and leaves is another thirteenth-century characteristic.

Provenance

[ Klaus F. Naumann , Tokyo, until 1988; sold to Irving]; Florence and Herbert Irving , New York (1988–2015; donated to MMA)

Exhibition History

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "East Asian Lacquer from the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection," November 22, 1991–February 23, 1992.